Lenovo's Budget-Friendly B50, G50 Laptops Start at $399

Lenovo is attempting to raise the bar on what you can expect from a budget laptop. The company has announced two affordable notebooks that offer a host of features starting at $399. The 15-inch Lenovo B50 and G50 pack Intel's latest 4th-generation processors and can be equipped with up to 1TB of storage each. And both models boast Lenovo's comfy AccuType keyboard.

Available with either Windows 7 or Windows 8, the more business oriented B50 weighs 5.3 pound. The machine features a 1366 x 768 touch screen display that can be upgraded to a 1920 x 1080 panel. Base configurations come with Intel's 4th-generation Pentium CPUs, though you can upgrade to a 4th-generation Core i7 chip and Nvidia GeForce 820M graphics chip if you're in need of some serious processing power.

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Not an Intel fan? You can also choose an AMD A8 processor with integrated graphics or an AMD Radeon R5 M230 graphics card.

Lenovo says the B50 can also be outfitted with up to a 1TB hard drive or a hybrid solid-state drive and optional optical drive. Need to secure sensitive files on your laptop? The B50 also features a built-in fingerprint reader. And when you're done crunching numbers and typing reports, you can blast some tunes from the B50's Dolby Advanced Audio v2-powered speakers.

The port spread includes two USB 3.0 ports,  a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI slot, a 4-in-1 card reader, an Ethernet port and a combination audio jack.

Like the B50, the G50 is available with up to an Intel Core i7 processor, as well as an AMD R5 M230 graphics chip. Running Windows 8.1, the 5.5-pound G50 includes a 1366 x 768 display, your choice of a DVD or Blu-ray player and Dolby Advanced Audio v2 audio software. The G50 also features Lenovo's VeriFace Pro facial recognition software, so you can log into your computer by simply looking at it.

Daniel P. Howley
LAPTOP Senior Writer
A newspaper man at heart, Dan Howley wrote for Greater Media Newspapers before joining Laptopmag.com. He also served as a news editor with ALM Media’s Law Technology News, and he holds a B.A. in English from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.